Absolutely. And it does seem like a pretty simple ask.
But I get the feeling that one of the things that may put the brakes on ideas like this is the physical limitations of the “U-Point” tool. We are now getting to the point where it is hard to envisage adding new tools to the radial menu without it getting too complicated and/or cumbersome.
On one hand, we’ve got folks crying out for more local adjustment functionality; on another hand, we’ve got folks who absolutely don’t want to get rid of the equaliser; and on another hand, those who hate the idea of having adjustments in the palettes.
I have noticed that, with the new Control Lines tool, attention now has to be split between making adjustments to selectivity in the palette and making adjustments to content on the equaliser.
I just tried making a “radial filter” by using a control point and selectivity - the problem is that selectivity is based on tone and texture under the point, which can led to “texture” selection rather than a physical dimension. In addition, controls point selection is very “leaky” and can extend way beyond the intended zone unless surrounded with a mass of negative points.
My current thinking is that local adjustments need to be moved totally to the palettes, where we can select from a greater number of tools and each tool can have its own specialised palette; the only action possible in the image area should be the placing and selection of zones to be affected.
This is where I put my tin hat on and await incoming from this who hate me for daring to mention removing the radial menu and equaliser
Yes the equaliser controls have to go so that new tools and controls can be added to DXO.
I can’t be the only one who has trouble locating the selection dropper in Control Lines when you are working with several CL’s?
I can see an option where the controls are in the menu area but it would also be possible to have the Selection dropper and Luma & Chroma controls displayed on screen following a right click to display them. Thus the user gets to draw a CL and then right click wherever is convenient to display the selection dropper and Luma/Chroma controls. It makes sense to display the fine tuning controls on screen and this is done successfully in other software like Capture One.
The other modification to the existing system would be to have an option to create a “filled” mask which when used with the Selection dropper and Luma/Chroma controls gives you global selection from the image. The current Kludge is to push a CL past the image edge to give you a filled mask - this is a dreadful Kludge and should be fixed quickly.
I get that some people like the equaliser to be present where the correction is being made but on more complex selections that’s not even possible, and every slider on the equaliser is in the palettes anyway for global corrections. I’ve been using PL since v3 was launched and I’m still not used to the equaliser. I particularly dislike when the image content makes it more difficult to see it, and I sometimes start a mask (multi-control point or one of the brushed ones) and end up deleting it and starting from a different location simply to get the equaliser in a better place.
On a big screen the equalizer eat less space, but on a 13" macbook it’s very unpleasant to work with. But on such a small screen everything is less pleasant.
In Capture One there’s no U-points, but layers. Easier to control as each layer can be adjusted like the image (with some exceptions). The cool thing with the equalizer clearly is - less distance for the mouse, but with a lot of U-points I start to find it rather confusing to use.
I assume you know you can uniquely rename control points and other Local Adjustment masks in the LA panel and you can select the mask you want to work on. from there.
Yes, you’re assuming correctly, but it’s this constant wandering through the panels and the incoherent behaviour (why can I not name the control point next to the equalizer, which would make it easier to organize it in the first place?) which makes PL sometimes feel like a bit of a prototype project software.
The equalizer will almost certainly be
removed altogether at some point in the near future. This has already been done in the latest version of Silver Efex Pro and Viveza in the Nik Collection . it’s just a matter of time. All new local adjustment features are planned for placement in the local adjustment palette.
That would really help to get better overview. At some points the UI looks like a bit of patchwork and to me as a Newbie some “secrets” are still hidden or - if I stumble over them by accident - appear to be a bit more complicated than I think they need to be.
There are a lot of mixed feelings and pros and cons by users concerning having all the adjustment sliders in a panel versus having them in the equalizer. Some prefer having them in panel, and others prefer the equalizer.
The local adjustment palette with the equalizer sliders moved to it, along with all the other local adjustments tools, could also be dragged on screen, and potentially could be made transparent.
This is a great point, as dragging it on screen would allow the user to put it precisely where they want. Not sure about transparency though.
As for the “confusion of palettes” I can certainly commiserate with that, as I am slowly learning where I put the tools in my own palettes. Local Adjustments is already a “mode of operation” that completely changes the interface in the photo area. Perhaps it should also completely rework the palettes to only the relevant controls.
Purely for information, seeing as I am the fire… err… thread starter… I am no longer torn.
I completed the reprocessing of 167 photos from 2011 — along the way discovering in considerable detail the flaws of the lens in use at the wide apertures I chose on the day — using PL5 and made significant use of Control Lines to tame backgrounds that were trying to steal the scene. That brings my total number of photos reprocessed in PhotoLab 3, 4, and 5 to 1,585.
About palettes, i was turned off in v1 bij the doubles of tools in essentials palette, it took only space. But now you just arrange your own palettes.
I have locals closed in top.
Then a most used base set, then a toolbox for special work and then the creative set.
The only thing i would like to have is when you click on locals or horizon or patching(clone/repair) that toolwindow is popping up on top no matter where it’s sitting in my duckrow. And when i close it disapears again to its place in my duckrow.
If they let the local adjustmentmenu float it’s fine enough for me, then i can replace it when it’s in the way. A right click on a slider for adding a number or use arrow up/down for fine tuning wouod be nice too.
But non of this is big enough to say it’s not improved enough.
